Reservation control apparatus



June 26, 1951 F. WASSELL 2,558,596

RESERVATION CONTROL APPARATUS Filed May 29, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [In "II IN INVENTOR.

FRANK LLOYD WASSELL @MWEggs-W H 13 AT TOR N EYS.

June 26, 1951 F. WASSELL ,5

RESERVATION CONTROL APPARATUS Filed May 29, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2.

. INVENTOR. FRANK LLOYD WASSELL HIS ATTORNEYS- Patented June 26, 1951RESERVATION CONTROL APPARATUS Frank Lloyd Wassell, Westport, Conn.,assignor to Georgene Parki'n Wassell, Westport, Conn.

ApplicationMay 29, 1948, Serial No. 30,037

The present invention relates to a reservation control apparatus formaintaining a visible running check on the type and availability ofaccommodations in railroad trains and the like.

Despite a persistent and urgent demand for a simple and efiective meansof maintaining up to the minute information on available accommodations, particularly on railroad trains, it is common knowledge that theexisting means of reservation control are antiquated and extremelywasteful of time and energy on the part of both the employees of therailroads and the public in general. Thus, for example, a request forthe reservation of a lower berth on a train scheduled to depart at somefuture date requires a ticket agent to select one group of car chartsfrom a large number of groups and then to go through an average of sayseven or eight of the car charts of a particular train to determinewhether the requested space is available. This results in long lines atticket windows, exasperating delays on the telephone, last minutecancellations due to duplication of reservations by ticket agents,unsold space in spite of demand therefor, and the loss of good will bythe railroads.

It has now been found that'the difiiculties and inconveniences that arenow practically taken for granted in making and extending reservationsfor accommodations in railroad trains and the like can be avoidedcompletely by the use of a central reservation oflice equipped with areservation control apparatus operable as hereinafter described. It willbe evident from the description that the control apparatus of thisinvention is applicable to uses in all industries that are concernedwith the reservation, of accommodations. It. is to be understood,vtherefore, that although the invention willbe described in detail onlyas it may be applied to the control of train reservations, it isnotintended to limit the applicability of the invention solely to such use.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of a preferred embodiment of thereservation control apparatus of this invention;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a detailed view showing a portion of the apparatusillustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

The apparatus illustrated by way of example in the drawings includesthree individually rotatable drum members It, Ii, and [2 having a commonand vertical axis of rotation centered on a standard I 4. The peripheryof each of the drum members Ill, H and I2 is provided with a plurality 1Claim.. (Cl. 116-436) 2 of peg boards [5 separated from one another byrecesses or pockets H.

The peg boards [6 are attached to the peripheries of the drum membersHi, H and !2 by any suitable means such as clips It. At the top of eachpeg board I6 there is provided a space-for suitable identificationmarkers such as a day marker 20 and date marker 2|, as shown in Figure3. The remainder of each peg board is divided into a plurality ofhorizontally elongated areas 22 and each such area is provided with apair of horizontal rows of perforations 24 adapted to receive indicatorpegs 26. The number of areas 22 in each peg board it is preferably madeat least equal to the number of cars having reserved accommodations onany single train.

Each peg 26 has a head portion marked by its shape, color, printeddesignation, or any combination thereof to indicate the type and/ oravailability of a given accommodation. Thus, for example, upper berths,lower berths, bedrooms, compartments, drawing rooms and roomettes may berepresented by pegs having white, yellow, green, lavender, blue and pinkheads, respectively. Alternatively, or in addition, the heads may belabeled with the letters U, L, B, C, D, and R, respectively;Furthermore, the shape, color or printed designations on the heads ofthe pegs may be varied to indicate the reservation status of aparticular accommodation, i. e., until what time the accommodation isbeing reserved, the cities between which the accommodation remainsavailable, and the like.

It is to be understood, of course, that the foregoing illustrationsrelative to the shape. color and printed designations of or on the headsof the pegs are merely suggestive and that the invention is not limitedto any particular identific'ation code or system.

Each pocket H is of a depth, width length sufficient to accommodate avisible card index 21 comprising preferably a series of car charts, onechart for each car in a particular train. Each car chart is providedwith a tab 2'9 and the tabs in each series of car charts are staggeredrelative to one another so that each tab will be opposite a differentarea 22 of the peg board It. Each tab 29 is labeled with a car numberand date of departure as shown in Figure 3.

Each individually rotatable drum member is provided at its base with ahand rail 30 that can be grasped by an operator for the purpose ofrotating the drum member to which it is attached.

An annular table 3| is provided with eight switchboards 32 and eightindentations 34, one for each operator. A well 36 is provided betweenthe periphery of the lowest drum member [2 and the top of the table 3|so that the peg boards 16 on both the highest and the lowest drummembers If and 12, respectively, will be within easy reach of theoperators. Suitable telephone connections are provided for each operatorand a signal light 31 is provided at the top of the standard M for thepurpose of signalling an incoming call.

The operation of the reservation control ap-i paratus of this inventionis extremely simple and provides an instantaneous, visible record of thenumber, type, location and reservation status of all availableaccommodations on a particular train for weeks in advance. Thus, forexample, if the apparatus is provided with three rotatable drum memberseach having twenty-one panels, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, andeach panel is utilized for a particular train scheduled to depart on aparticular date, the apparatus will pride an instantaneous, visiblerecord of the number, type, location and reservation statusof allaccommodations for three or nine weeks in advance, depending uponwhether each drum element is used for a diiferent train or all threedrum elements are used for the same train.

The designations on the tabs of the car charts provide means forinstantly selecting and removing from any particular pocket the carchart for a given car and minimize the possibility oi misfiling the carcharts after any required entries have been made thereon. The staggeredpositions of the tabs opposite successive horizontally elongated areason each peg board serve to identify said areas with the tabs oppositethem with the result that a tab marked Car 253, for example, not onlyprovides a ready means for removing the car chart for car 253 but alsoidentifies the area opposite it on the peg board as representing theaccommodations in that car. The number, location and type of pegs oneach peg board will, at all times, correspond with the number, type andlocation of spaces available. Whenever a space on a particular car of aparticular train is sold, the peg corresponding to that space isremoved, the car chart of the car in question is removed, suitablymarked and replaced in the pocket I'i (see Figure 3). Thus, for example,if compartment number 4 on car 253 leaving Thursday, August 28, isunsold, a peg 23 designating the type of space will be struck in thefourth perforation from the left and opposite the tab of the car chartfor car 253. When that space is sold, the peg 26 will be removed and thecar chart for car 253 will be suitably marked. Thus, the fact that thatparticular space is no longer available for reservation will becomeapparent immediately to all of the operators. By the same token theoperators can tell immediately whether a particular train leaving on aparticular day has any more spaces of any particular type available forreservation and, if so, the car number in which that space is located aswell as the location of the space within the car.

It is to be understood that the perforations 24 in the varioushorizontally elongated areas 22 may be used in whatever manner is mostsuitable to the accommodations involved. Thus, for example, if the carrepresented by a particular area is one having only upper and lowerberths, the perforations in the upper row may be used to designate upperberths and the perforations in the lower row may be used to designatelower berths. If, on the otherhand, the car contains roomettes,compartments, bedrooms or drawing rooms or any combination thereof, onlyone of the rows of perforations of any pair need be used to designateparticular spaces. The type of reservation, that is, whether a space isa compartment, roomette, bedroom, drawing room or berth, is indicated bythe shape and color of the peg inserted into the perforation reservedfor that space.

It is also to be understood that the number of rows of perforations ineach area 22 need not necessarily be two. If it is desired to use theapparatus of this invention to indicate the reservation status of coachseats, for example, wherein the seats are disposed four abreast, it isadvantageous to have four rows of perforations in the area 22.

It is manifest that many modifications and alterations in the details ofthe apparatus of this invention will suggest themselves to those skilledin the art upon reading the description of this invention and it is tobe understood that all such alterations and modifications as come withinthe scope of the appended claim are intended to be included within theinvention.

I claim:

Reservation control apparatus comprising, in combination, a rotatabledrum member having a vertical axis of rotation, a plurality of pegboards on the periphery of the drum member, each pegboard having aplurality of horizontal rows of perforations, a recess in the drummember at one side of each peg board, and a visible card index in eachrecess, each card in the visible card index having a tab in staggeredrelation to the tabs ofthe other cards in said index and each tab beingsubstantially opposite at least one horizontal row of perforations inthe adjacent peg board for which the card is a record, and a pluralityof indicator pegs adapted to be removably inserted into the perforationsin said peg boards.

FRANK LLOYD WASSELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

